FIFA Confirm Plans To Test Goal-Line Technology

Football’s international governing body, FIFA, has announced that the final phase of goal-line technology tests will begin later this month before football’s governing body makes a final decision in July.

Chelsea reached the FA Cup final with a 5-1 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, with replays clearly indicating that Juan Mata’s shot did not cross the line for Chelsea’s second goal.

The International Football Association Board, the game’s rule-making body, last month approved two systems to go into a second round of testing in match scenarios before either can be sanctioned for use in competitive fixtures at a meeting on 2nd July.

FIFA said in a statement: ‘The latest planning meeting for test phase two was held on Friday, and the second phase of tests will commence before end of April, and will continue throughout May.’

IFAB must be satisfied with the speed and accuracy of Hawk-Eye or GoalRef before high-tech aids for referees can be deployed in football for the first time.

Sony Corp.’s Hawk-Eye is a camera-based ball-tracking system successfully deployed in tennis and cricket, while GoalRef, owned by a German-Danish company, uses a magnetic field with a special ball.

Both systems send a signal within a second of the ball crossing the line to the referee, who will retain the power to make the final call.

In Sunday’s game at Wembley Stadium, television replays quickly indicated that Mata’s shot at the start of the second half didn’t cross the line when it was bundled clear by Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who was lying on the turf on the goal line in a scramble.

 

 

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